armament included QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns. She began her first patrol on 14 October 1939. From December 1939 Dunnottar Castle escorted SL convoys from Freetown in Sierra Leone to Liverpool. Usually she returned to Freetown independently, but in June 1941 she took part in the escort of Convoy WS 9A from Oversay to Freetown and in August she took part in the escort of Convoy OS 3 from Belfast as far as Freetown. The last convoy she escorted was SL 110 in May and June 1942. Troop ship In 1942 the Admiralty returned Dunnottar Castle to Union-Castle and the Ministry of War Transport had her refitted as a troop ship. In November 1942 she carried troops in Convoy KMF 2 to Algiers for Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of Vichy French North Africa. She returned to Britain in Convoy MKF 2 and then spent 11 days on the Clyde being repaired. Dunnottar Castle continued on convoys between the Clyde and Algiers until July 1943. On 3 September 1943 Italy signed an armistice with the Allies and declared war on Germany. This made the Mediterranean less dangerous for Allied shipping. On 15 September Dunnottar Castle left Liverpool to join Convoy KMF 24, which took advantage of the armistice to reach the eastern Mediterranean. The ship reached Port Said in Egypt on 28 September. In Egypt she embarked Allied troops and joined Convoy XIF 2, which left Port Said on 6 October and reached Taranto in southern Italy on 9 October. Dunnottar Castle returned to Britain via convoys IXF 2 and MKF 25, and then on November and December 1943 she sailed from the Clyde to Takoradi on the Gold Coast and Lagos in Nigeria via convoys KMF 26 and RS 12, and back to Egypt via convoys SR 8 and KMF 27, spending Christmas 1943 in Gibraltar and reaching Port Said on 30 December. From Port Said Dunnottar Castle went to Bombay and back, calling at Suez on New Year's Day 1944, sailing in convoys AB 27A and BA 59 from Aden to Bombay and back and reaching Suez again on 8 February. On 2 March 1944 Dunnottar Castle left Port Said for Liverpool with Convoy MKF 29, but on 9 March she detached at Gibraltar for repairs. She resumed her voyage with convoys MKS 42G and SL 151MK, reaching the Clyde on 22 March. She then spent eight